Kettles Yard

Kettles Yard

Jim and The House

The house belonged to Jim Ede and his wife Helen. The couple had spent 16 years perfectly placing every single object. The house is a 1970s extended original cottage with a great extension.

Jim Ede was victorian and he studied painting. He then met Helen between the years of 1910 and 1914. Ede studied in Edinburgh, he also fought in the first world war. After studying in Cambridge he moved to India.

Jim had ornaments in his house from India and wrote about how the colour blue got him through the bad elements of his stay in India. After coming back from India, he then moved to London and married Helen. They bought a house in London and had their first child in 1922. They named her elizabeth.

Jim’s first job was a photography assistant in the national portrait gallery, then soon after worked at the tate. He was in charge of the exhibitions and all the new paintings etc. Jim acquired the first piece of Picasso’s work whilst he worked there.

Renascence was discovered when Jim visited the Fitzwilliam Museum. Soon after Jim, Helen and their daughter moved to Hampstead and their house became an open house in the 1920s-1930s

A French artist who lived in London died in the first world war and Jim looked at his work and he then persuaded the Tate to take 3 paintings from this french artist for an exhibition.

Jim travelled alot he moved to France then lived in Morocco in an old 18th century house. He had a bit collection of paintings etc and wanted his collection somewhere in England near his daughters. Jim then moved to cambridge with his wife.

Ede created a relationship between objects, balanced colours and referred all objects to music. Everything is all different in it’s own way. The house in cambridge became an open house to students. Jim also used to invite you in for a cup of tea if he liked you. Jim also liked a bargain, he wrote a book called ‘the way of life’. In this book Jim wrote and documented stories from specific objects around the house and beyond.

Ede also had a fascination for pebbles, i found this out not only by the tour guide telling me but by looking in Jim’s room. And there’s a quote that Jim once said ‘I sometimes think that the phrase “modern art” has ceased to have any real meaning.

The Gallery

So not only was the cottage an open house, it had a gallery built on to the extension too.

Ben and Winifred Nicholson collaborated with Christopher wood and alfred wallis. Ben and Winifred were inspired by each other. Ben’s father William was a painter of still life and Winifred was very wealthy. Both Ben and Winifred took trips to Sri Lanka. The trip was to do with light and dark because Nicholson wanted to create a different feel of colour.

Ben Nicholson always wanted his work to be next to William State’s pottery. Nicholson was interested in the sort of pottery William did ‘Japanese pottery’ Also Ben thought of William’s work more of sculptures.